GERMANTOWN - A plan to offer village financing to J.W. Speaker Corp. to expand its Germantown headquarters will go to the village board after the plan commission approved it Nov. 29.

J.W. Speaker, which manufactures lights for motorcycles and other vehicles, is planning a $44 million expansion at its Germantown headquarters, which could add more than 130 jobs and $27 million to the village tax roll, according to village documents.

That expansion includes the construction of a new design center and manufacturing buildings as well as an expansion of the existing facility at N120 W19434 Freistadt Road, according to plans filed with the village.

To facilitate that development, the village anticipates creating a tax increment financing district to put forward $2.7 million toward a cash grant and sewer and water extensions at the 87-acre space west of the existing facility. That funding could come from general obligation bonds issued by the village.

Once created, TIF districts essentially cap the tax rate of property in the district, meaning taxing agencies such as school districts and the village will earn the same amount of tax revenue during the life of the TIF as they did before it was created, even as property values there increase. All additional tax revenue will go only toward projects in that district, which, in TIF No. 7, will be the 144 acres around the J.W. Speaker campus.

The village anticipates the J.W. Speaker development will add $27 million of new property value and all project costs will be recouped by 2031.

On Nov. 29, the plan commission voted unanimously to recommend the village board approve the TIF district. The board likely will vote for the proposal at its Dec. 18 meeting, according to Village Administrator Steven Kreklow.

The new manufacturing and design buildings could break ground in 2018, and construction of a new meeting facility and expansion at the existing building could begin in 2019, village documents said. Construction at a second manufacturing facility is planned to begin in 2027.

The new construction would add about 160,000 square feet to J.W. Speaker's Germantown facilities, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel previously reported. The company's existing Freistadt Road facility is 163,000 square feet, and it operates an 80,000-square-foot building in the Germantown Industrial Park.

J.W. Speaker told the village the additional 132 jobs added as part of the company expansion will add $6 million in additional payroll annually, or about $45,000 per employee.